Prepare roadmap for fast track justice delivery system: SC to Centre

The apex court also lamented the lack of adequate budgetary support by the Centre for the judiciary

Expressing concern over lack of infrastructure for subordinate judiciary leading to delay in deciding cases, the Supreme Court today asked the Centre to place before it a road map on how it intends to put justice delivery system on fast track.

A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha granted the government three months time to prepare a blue-print for fast tracking of cases.

It also lamented the lack of adequate budgetary support by the Centre for the judiciary.

"Whole problem is about finance. States want the finances to be met by the Centre. Such issues cannot be dealt by us. It has to be done by you. We cannot go beyond a limit," it said.

The bench said that there is heavy load on the lower judiciary as there are three crore cases pending in the country and there are only 20 thousand posts for judges including the Chief Justice of India.

It said there is no country where there are so many cases and so few judges to handle them. The bench said that more judges should be appointed and for which infrastructure has to be expanded.

"66 percents of prisoners are undertrials and they are involved in petty cases but languishing in jails. They suffer all along. I don't think that there is single solution to this problem but multi-pronged strategy is required to address the problem," it said.

The bench said the problem is being compounded day by day which cannot be resolved by putting a certain type of case on fast track proceedings.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi submitted that the government has started the process and separate fund is also being considered to deal with the issue.